Russian Court Sentences US Citizen to 15 Years on Espionage Charges

Spector, a Russian-born US citizen, was already serving a 3.5-year prison sentence for bribery when he was charged with espionage in August last year.

The Moscow City Court handed down a 13-year sentence for the espionage charges, which was added to his existing bribery sentence, resulting in a combined 15-year term, state news agency TASS reported.

The trial was held behind closed doors, and details of the espionage case have not been disclosed. The court announced only the verdict and upheld a fine of 14 million rubles ($140,000) previously imposed on Spector.

Before his arrest in 2021, Spector chaired the board of Medpolymerprom Group, a company specializing in cancer-treatment drugs, according to state media.

In his earlier case, Spector admitted to facilitating bribes for Anastasia Alekseyeva, a former aide to ex-Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. Investigators revealed that between 2015 and 2016, Alekseyeva accepted bribes worth over four million rubles ($40,000), including luxury vacation trips to Thailand and the Dominican Republic, in exchange for actions benefiting the bribe-giver.

The espionage conviction adds a new layer to the legal troubles of Spector, who moved to the US from Russia after being born and raised in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. Russian authorities have not made further details about the charges public.